Erick Sermon Raises More Than $60,000 & Will Release His 8th Solo Album

FEBRUARY 22 UPDATE: Erick Sermon and Def Squad Records released the following statement to Ambrosia For Heads: “In today’s music business, the climate is everything’s based on streaming. We have seen drastic changes in the way consumers listen to content. There [are] all different genres of Hip-Hop now some with more commercial appeal than others, but nothing makes you feel the way boom-bap Hip-Hop makes you feel when an MC is making your teeth grind, your face starts mean-mugging, your head starts snapping back giving ya whiplash. That’s what Hip-Hop does to you. Our goal is to give the fans as much dope Hip-Hop so they can stream it just as much as they stream all of this generation’s stars. I salute all of the new guys and wanna work with everybody. I promise the necks gonna snap.”

FEBRUARY 21 UPDATE: This afternoon (February 21) Erick Sermon raised the money to release his eighth solo album. Titled Go, more than 542 fans gave the “Green-Eyed Bandit” the go-ahead by donating more than $60,000 through crowd-sourced funding. One of the fans paid more than $5,000 for an exclusive, “tracked out” beat from the EPMD producer known for his work with Redman, Method Man, Keith Murray, Tupac, and others.

ORIGINAL STORY: Last month, Erick Sermon asked fans for their up-front support of his eighth solo album. In the tradition of fellow Long Islanders De La Soul, the Green-Eyed Bandit’s upcoming LP, Go, is crowdfunded. Since the January announcement, the forthcoming album has almost reached its $60,000 goal for tomorrow’s (February 22) deadline. As of this morning (February 21), the EPMD co-founder has less than $500 to raise to get Go in gear.

In addition to Go, EPMD recently revealed plans for concept album titled Dynamic Duos: Big Business. Said to be releasing through JAY-Z’s Roc Nation label, the LP has confirmed features from Capone-N-Noreaga, M.O.P., Mobb Deep, Salt-N-Pepa, and Black Star with Erick Sermon and his 30-plus-year rhyme partner Parrish Smith on the tracks. Late last year, PMD released Business Mentality, his first solo LP in 14 years.